I never saw any people who appeared to live so much without amusement as the Cincinnatians.... Were it not for the churches,... I think there might be a general bonfire of best bonnets, for I never could discover any other use for them.

Trollope had recently travelled extensively in the United States; here, she was referring to religious prohibitions in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she had spent some time. She noted that women's opportunities for amusement were especially circumscribed. (Such prohibitions were, of course, widespread in the United States.).